Colorado bill would give children free mental health screenings, therapy sessions
KOAA
and last updated 2021-04-21 22:18:06-04
SOUTHERN COLORADO â After a difficult school year for children across Colorado, state lawmakers are working to provide free mental health screenings and therapy to help them rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
House Bill 21-1258 would require the state to create a temporary youth mental health services program in the office of behavioral health within the department of human services by May 31. The program would allow up to three free mental health sessions for every Coloradan age 18 and younger and providers would be reimbursed through the program.
Colorado committee approves bill to allocate $9 million to youth mental health Eli Kirshbaum | Apr 21, 2021
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The Colorado House Public and Behavioral Health Committee today voted to advance Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet’s bill to allocate $9 million from federal stimulus funds to support the mental health needs of Colorado youth. The “Rapid Mental Health Response for Colorado Youth” bill would create a temporary youth mental health services program within the state’s office of behavioral health to administer the program.
Michaelson Jenet introduced her bill to the committee:
“What this bill does, in essence, is give every school-aged child in Colorado the opportunity to take an online screening, and if necessary, be referred to a mental health provider ideally within their insurance network.”
Heather Gard sits on the edge of her late son’s bed in the exact spot where she last saw him and shared a hug with him at the family’s home in Breckenridge. “I went in to give him a hug and he didn’t even stand up,” Gard said about her last hug with Toby, following a late night argument about going out of the house in April 2020, “Which was really not like Toby to (not stand up for the hug).”
Forrest Czarnecki
Forrest Czarnecki
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Brittany Kochar, 31, weathered the first six to eight months of the pandemic fairly well. But as time dragged on, the Littleton resident, who in 2019 was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after her sister was murdered, began to feel the isolation eroding her mental health. Toward the end of 2020, Kochar’s anxiety, frustration, and PTSD increased and they’ve only intensified in the new year. “Recently, I felt a lot like this isn’t really living, this is just surviving,” Kochar says. “And it’s exhausting.”
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